The turn of the 21st Century brought with it innumerable changes, ranging from advancements in technology to evolving fashion tastes. At the same time and following a similar pattern, the stiff, square-style car designs of previous decades were falling out of vogue and giving way to a new generation of soft edges and rounded body panels. Within a short period, vehicles like the Chrysler PT Cruiser, Volkswagen New Beetle, Ford Thunderbird, and Chevrolet SSR were the apple of America’s eye.
Besides the PT Cruiser, Chrysler also built a neo-hotrod — the Plymouth Prowler. The problem was that an unimposing V6 was all that would fit within the confines of the Prowler’s tight engine bay. In a nutshell, the Prowler was all show and no go. However, that definitely wasn’t the case for another Chrysler concept vehicle of the time — the 1997 Dodge Sidewinder. The Sidewinder — sometime called the Dodge Dakota Sidewinder — was designed by Mark Allen, who had just finished design school and wanted to build a hotrod-style Dakota.
For the bespoke Sidewinder chassis, Chrysler turned to the high-performance fabricators at Riley & Scott, the same company responsible for engineering the Dodge Viper GTS-R and the iconic Riley & Scott MK III. The similarities between the Sidewinder and the GTS-R don’t stop there, though — the Sidewinder also borrowed the GTS-R’s 600-horsepower V10 powerplant.
The Sidewinder was supposed to have a Hemi
Designer Mark Allen originally intended to build Dodge’s hotrod pickup truck with a Hemi engine, which, presumably, would have been a second-generation 426 cubic-inch Hemi, since Dodge’s 5.7-liter third-gen Hemi was still years away from release. Instead, Chrysler contracted Caldwell Development to build a Viper V10 capable of producing 600 horsepower and a matching 600 pound-feet of torque. In a small nod to practicality and ease-of-use, the V10 sent power to the wheels via a heavy-duty four-speed automatic transmission sourced from the Ram pickup truck platform.
While comically large wheels are a common feature of automotive concept art, Allen’s original mockup depicted large wheels without going overboard. That allowed the fabricators to follow Allen’s designs more closely when they gave the Sidewinder its 21- by 8-inch front rims and 22- by 11-inch rear wheels. Nowadays, 22-inch wheels are relatively common, like these Rolls-Royce wheels. However, in 1997, those rims, along with a set of Goodyear tires with flame-style tread pattern, were quite the novelty.
Where’s the Sidewinder now?
The Sidewinder’s bespoke body panels were fabricated by established Chrysler collaborator, Metalcrafters, in California. Metalcrafters did a beautiful job constructing most of the vehicle from steel, save for the removable roof, which, understandably, needed to be lightweight. That craftsmanship is on full display, too. Except for some padding on its Viper seats, the Sidewinder’s cabin is largely unupholstered metal. The removable, composite roof stows in the bed once removed, while an electric rear window forms the back of the enclosure when the roof is in place.
Chrysler estimated that the Sidewinder was capable of clicking off a 3.9-second 0-60 time on its way to a top speed of 170 mph, but we’ll never know. Having just greenlit the Plymouth Prowler in 1997, the brand wasn’t too keen on investing resources in another low-production experiment. Considering the dismal sales numbers of Chevy’s SSR several years later, Chrysler seems vindicated in its decision to not move forward with the Sidewinder.
After wowing crowds on the auto show circuit for a while, the Sidewinder retired to the now-defunct Walter P. Chrysler Museum. When that facility closed in 2016, the whereabouts of this unique muscle truck dropped off the radar.
